Steam-engine.



N0 MODEL.

PATENTED JULY 21, 1903. S. SHERIFF.

STEAM ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2, 1903.

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UNITED STATES Patented July 21, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL SHERIFF, OF PUEBLO, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO J. E. JONES AND WENDELL VAN HOOK, OF PITTSBURG, PENN- SYLVANIA.

STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 734,475, dated July 21, 1903.

Application filed February 2,.1903. Serial No. 141,535. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, SAMUEL SHERIFF, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pueblo, in the county of Pueblo and State of Colo- 5 rado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Engines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

by the live steam is utilized, as in a simple My invention is an improved steam-engine; and it consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices hereinafter fully described and claimed.

The object of my invention is to effect improvements in the construction of a steam or similar engine whereby a pair of cylinders are provided, one being a high-pressure and.

the other a low-pressure cylinder, and whereengine, to drive the pistonsin one direction, and the exhaust-steam is used, as in a compound engine, to drive the pistons in the opposite direction.

The accompanying drawing is a top plan view of a steam-engine embodying my improvements, partly in section on a plane intersecting the cylinders and the steam-chest.

In the embodiment of my invention here I 30 shown I provide a low-pressure'cylinder 1 and a high-pressure cylinder 2, which are disposed in line with each other end to end and between which is a steam-chest 3, that has a live-steam inlet-port 3 which is indicated in dotted lines. The inner end of each cylinder is closed. The outer end thereofmay be open. The ends of the steam-chest are here shown as closed, and the closure of one of them has a final exhaust-portfi The steam-chest is 0 provided with a port 4:, through which steam.

may be exhausted from the low-pressure cylinder and discharged into the end of the steam-chest having the port 3 and'from said port 3 either into the outer air or into a condenser. The steam-chest is further provided with a live-steam port 5, which communicates with one end of the high-pressure cylinder 2 and is also provided with ports 6 to establish communication between the high -pressure and the low-pressure cylinders and through which ports exhauststeam from the highpressu re cylinder may pass to the low-pressure cylinder. Valves 7 8 9, which are here shown as slide-valves, but which may in practice be of any preferred construction, are connected together and adaptedforsimultaneous movement by a valve-rod 10 The valve 7is adapted to open and close the port 4:. The valves 1 drive-wheel 17, and the said shaft is connected by miter-gears 18 to a shaft 19. The drive-shaft and the'shaft 19 are mounted in suitable bearings. On the shaft 19 is an eccentric 20. The same is slidable laterally with respect to! the shaft 19, is loose on the latter, and is connected thereto by a spline 21, which admits of the lateral movement of said eccentric. The latter has a strap 22, to which is connected, as by a pivot 23, one end of a link-rod 24,"the opposite end of which link-rod is connected to the valve-rod 10 by a ball-and-sock'et joint 25.

The shaft 19 is here shown as provided with a collar 26, which is connected, by means of jointed rods 27, to the eccentric. The said jointed rods carry centrifugal governor-balls 28, which are adapted to recede by centrifu- "gal force from the shaft 19 as the speed of the latter increases and to approach each other as the speed of the. shaft 19 decreases. A spring 29 is here shown asconnecting the jointed rods 27, the tension of the 'saidi'spring serving to normally draw the governor-balls toward each other.

In the operation of my improved engine steam or other fluid under pressure is admitted from. the steam-chest to the high-pressure cylinder 2 by the coaction of the valve 8 and the port 5 and the live steam caused to drive the piston 11 outwardly in the highpressure cylinder, and hence cause the piston 12 in the low-pressure cylinder, which is connected to the piston 11 by the rod 13, to be driven toward the inner end of the low-pressure cylinder. The movement of the valve 8 then cuts 05 the live-steam port 5 and simultaneously opens the port 6, hence causing the steam to be exhausted from the high-pressure cylinder into the low pressure cylinder through the said port 6, and the exhaust steam acts expansively on the piston 12 to drive the latter outwardly in the low-pressure cylinder, and hence drive the piston 11 inwardly in the high-pressure cylinder. At the conclusion of this reverse stroke of the pistons the valve 7 opens the port 4, and the steam is then exhausted from the low-pressure cylinder through the said port and the port 3", as will he understood. The shaft being geared to the drive-shaft of the engine, as hereinbefore described, causes the eccentric to rotate, and the latter coacts with its strap and the link-rod 24: to operate the valves in the steam-chest, as hereinbefore described. As the speed of the engine increases the centrifugal governor mechanism causes the eccentric to move laterally and approach the plane of the axis of the valve-rod 10, hence shifting the valves and causing the ports to be opened thereby to a less extent than when the engine is running at lower speed. Hence the engine automatically adapts itself to the load and to variations of steam-pressure, the

governor mechanism coacting with the valves to automatically reduce or increase the quantity of live steam admitted to the high-pressure cylinder, according to the speed of the engine.

I do not desire to limit myself to the precise form of governor mechanism herein shown and described, as it is evident that modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- In an engine of the class described,the combination of a high-pressure cylinder and a low-pressure cylinder disposed end to end, a steam-chest between the cylinders and having a port 4 communicating with the lowpressure cylinder, a port 5 communicating with the high-pressure cylinder and ports 6 communicating with both of said cylinders, pistons in said cylinders connected for simultaneous movement in the same direction, a valve 7 cooperating with port 4:, a valve 8 cooperating with port 5, a valve 9 cooperating with valve 8 and ports 6, and means to simultaneously operate said valves, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL SHERIFF.

Witnesses:

W. H. HUBBARD, Jr., Rom. J. LEITHEAD. 

